On a quiet Saturday in Pendleton, South Carolina, the lives of an elderly couple, Corrie and Christy Johnson, came to a brutal and tragic end. It was May 28, 1983, when neighbors became concerned after the Johnsons, aged 80 and 85, failed to answer a series of phone calls. Entering the couple’s home to check on them, the neighbors made a horrific discovery that would unravel a string of violent crimes and introduce the state to a serial killer.
Corrie Johnson and her husband Christy
were found stabbed to death inside their home. The attack was frenzied and exceptionally violent. Corrie had sustained 18 stab wounds, while Christy had been stabbed 26 times. The weapon was a six-inch butcher knife that the killer had found in the Johnsons' own kitchen. A forensic pathologist would later testify that many of their wounds were inflicted while they were conscious. The scene was one of unimaginable terror, with blood smears and pools throughout the house telling the story of their final moments.
The investigation quickly led to a man who was not a stranger to the couple. Andrew "Andy" Lavern Smith, a 23-year-old auto body repairman, was a distant cousin of the Johnsons. His family had previously rented a house from them. Based on several tips, police began to focus on Smith. They searched his mother’s residence and found parts—including wheels, a battery, and a spare tire—that had been stripped from the Johnsons' stolen car. The vehicle itself was found abandoned the day after the murders.
Following his arrest on June 1, 1983, Smith confessed to the brutal slayings. He told investigators he had gone to his cousins' home, armed with a pistol and a knife, to borrow their car. When Christy Johnson refused, an argument erupted. Smith admitted to striking the elderly man with such force that he fell to the floor. When Corrie came to her husband's defense, Smith turned on her, stabbing her repeatedly before turning the knife back on Christy. After the attack, he left the knife in Corrie's back, took the car keys, and fled.
Smith's confession closed not only the Johnson case but also linked him to a series of other violent crimes along Interstate 85, earning him the moniker "The I-85 Killer." He was ultimately proven responsible for four murders and one attempted murder between 1980 and 1983. Prosecutors chose to try him for the murders of Corrie and Christy Johnson first. Despite his detailed confession, Smith later recanted, claiming detectives had fabricated his statements.
In 1984, a jury convicted Andrew Lavern Smith of two counts of murder, as well as kidnapping, criminal sexual conduct, and assault and battery with intent to kill for his other crimes. He was sentenced to death. After a successful appeal granted him a new sentencing hearing, he was again sentenced to death in 1987. For years, the case moved through the appeals process.
On December 18, 1998, fifteen years after he murdered his elderly cousins, Andrew Lavern Smith was executed by lethal injection at the Broad River Correctional Institution. He was 38 years old and became the 500th person executed in the United States since the reinstatement of the death penalty in 1976. He made no final statement. Corrie Johnson's daughter, Ann Roberts, spoke about the execution, stating, "Ordinarily, I'm pro-life. But I do believe in execution for him. It's torn apart our family. It's taken a toll on my mental and physical health. I have no sympathy for him. That was a gruesome thing he did."
